SERVICES PRODUCER PRICES, FIRST QUARTER OF 2024

The total services producer price index increased at both the annual¹⁾ and at the quarterly level²⁾ in the first quarter of 2024.

The services producer prices increased by 5.5% in the first quarter of 2024 as compared to the same quarter of the previous year

The highest increase in prices was recorded in the following activities: Other professional, scientific and technical activities (of 22.4%), Postal and courier activities (of 19.0%) and Security and investigation activities (of 15.0%).

The decrease in prices was recorded in only three activities: Programming and broadcasting activities (of 6.5%), Information service activities (of 5.7%) and Travel agency, tour operator reservation services and related activities (of 0.6%).

In the first quarter of 2024, as compared to the previous quarter, the services producer prices increased by 1.4%

The highest increase in prices was recorded in the following activities: Water transport (of 27.2%), Security and investigation activities (of 11.8%) and Employment activities (of 7.2%).

The highest decrease in prices was recorded in the following activities: Accommodation (of 5.7%), Programming and broadcasting activities (of 4.9%) and Rental and leasing activities (of 1.8%).

1) Data compared to those of the same quarter of the previous year.
2) Data compared to those of the previous quarter.

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Notice

The First Release USL-2024-3-1 Services Producer Prices has been published in quarterly dynamics since June 2023.

Since January 2024, the base year has been changed to 2021 and the new observation unit is a kind-of-activity unit (KAU).

The new base year and the new observation unit – kind-of-activity unit (KAU) - are defined by Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, which concerns short-term business statistics of all Member States.

Time series of the services producer prices indices,  with the base year 2021 = 100, are published on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics at https://dzs.gov.hr/en in the STS Database (Short-Term Business Statistics Database), in the sub-area Service Activities under the headings Services Producer Price Indices − quarterly data available at the link https://stsbaza.dzs.hr/en/Report?dt=10.

Accurate release dates are listed in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues 2024, which is available on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics at https://podaci.dzs.hr/en/.

The quarterly original indices with the base year 2021 are regularly submitted on a quarterly basis to Eurostat and are available on Eurostat’s website at http//ec.europa.eu/eurostat, together with the indicators of all EU Member States they are comparable to.

Sources and methods of data collection

Data are the result of a whole range of statistical surveys of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics which are used for collecting prices of representative services in observed service activities. A joint and acronym mark for these surveys is SPPI surveys (from the English name for these indices: services producer price indices). In addition to data on prices, data on turnover by representative groups of services used as weights in calculating price indices are collected along with some relevant information specific to individual service activities.

A major part of information on prices is collected directly from reporting units through statistical forms via an internet application available on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. There are only a few surveys carried out via administrative data sources. In order to calculate the I56 Food and beverage service activities index, the estimation of consumer price index is applied. Collected data serve as a basis for the calculation of individual price indices, subsequently put together into a (joint) services producer price index (SPPI).

The reference period is a quarter. Enterprises enter data on prices in an electronic form and send the filled-in form to the statistical office 30 to 40 days after the reference period.

The methodology for SPPI surveys is harmonised with the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 and with guidelines provided in the Methodological Guide for Developing Producer Price Indices for Services (OECD, Eurostat, 2014, Second Edition). This survey is conducted on the basis of the Official Statistics Act (NN, No. 25/20).

Statistical unit and statistical population

The statistical unit of the services producer price index is a kind-of-activity unit. Statistical population consists of all active units classified in the Statistical Business Register in the observed activity, being either a main or a secondary activity of the business entity. The main and secondary activity of a business entity were determined according to the NKD 2007 classification.

Coverage of activities

The presentation and interpretation of indices are entirely harmonised with Eurostat´s requirements for the presentation of short-term business indicators and with the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 March 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics and with the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

Observation units in the Quarterly Report on Services Producer Prices (SPPI form) are business entities (legal entities and tradesmen) that are registered by their main activity in the following sections of the NKD 2007:

Gross, unadjusted indices

All indices are presented in a gross, unadjusted form, that is, they are affected by a seasonal and working-day variation. Data are subject to revision. Revised data are published in the first subsequent release.

Definitions

Weight is a share of turnover of a certain elementary aggregate in total turnover, estimated on the basis of available data.

Service specification is a detailed description of a representative service, which enables the monitoring of a price of always the same service.

Representative service is a service that has a significant share in the turnover of the group it represents and which reflects a type of work usually done by a reporting unit in a particular group of services.

Total activity index is a weighted price index average of individual groups of services.

Services producer prices are prices created on the market by service producers for their services sold. These prices are monitored from the point of view of service producers as opposed to consumer prices that are monitored from the point of view of end users. Prices of resident service producers are monitored.

Abbreviations

The survey whose data are published in this First Release has been conducted with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, Ilica 3, P. O. B. 80
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Persons responsible:
Milenka Primorac Čačić, Director of Business Statistics Directorate
Lidija Brković, Director General

Prepared by:
Josipa Kalčić Ivanić, Maja Dozet and Sanda Colić

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